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Chomsky and Chavez Target US

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez`s recent attack on American President Bush is notable for many reasons but is receiving extra attention after Chavez held up Noam Chomsky`s book during the speech, demanding it be read by all. The book titled `Hegemony or Survival: America`s Quest for Global Domination", first published in 2003, soon topped the best seller list of Amazon and slowly but surely, time moved it from the number 1 spot all the way down to number 160,772.

After Chavez waved a copy of the book and recommended it, its hourly sales ranking on Amazon spiked to number 22 as of Wednesday evening. The following morning it took the number 7 spot, then number 2, and that was when Henry Holt announced a new printing of 25,000 copies.

Chomsky`s writings are centered mainly on criticism of the foreign policies of the U.S. and Israel. His bestselling book speaks out on U.S. hegemony, controlling the domestic population through fear and the historical parallels of current U.S. foreign policy. Chomsky himself is regarded as a controversial figure and is frequently described by the catch-phrase, ?The world?s leading intellectual".